Lismore flood survivors ‘re-traumatised’ by muddled recovery back push for local-led reset
Frustrated flood survivors calling for a local-led “reset” have slammed the state government’s botched recovery 16 months after the historic North Coast disasters.
Lismore
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Lismore flood survivors backing a new local-led approach say 16 months on they feel humiliated and re-traumatised by the state government’s bungled recovery.
Residents calling for the “reset” have been scathing – accusing authorities of gaslighting and treating them like “garbage” as survivors across the North Rivers are refused help after the record 2022 disasters.
Lismore City Council Mayor Steve Krieg also wants more local involvement.
He’s pushing for a review of housing programs, a case-management approach to guide victims and infrastructure funding to open up flood-free land.
Cr Krieg also wants investment in local organisations already supporting victims.
“We need a locally-led vision for our city, a homes program that meets the needs of individuals and families,” he said.
NSW Reconstruction Authority chief executive officer Simon Draper agreed the state recovery body, which has absorbed the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC), would work more closely with communities.
“Local councils have said that they are ready and willing to play a much bigger role, after many were themselves hard hit in the 2022 floods. The NSW Reconstruction Authority welcomes that offer,” he said.
“We will be working with councils to make arrangements that suit their circumstances and to provide state and Commonwealth support for programs that help communities across the Northern Rivers recover.”
It’s understood the council has not yet met with the authority.
Spokeswoman for community group Reclaim our Recovery Sally Newham said only a small number of the worst affected residents have been able to get back on their feet.
She slammed the “faulty” property buyback, house-raising and retrofit process and said it due lacked transparency and “real community involvement”.
A spokesman said the NRRC was in the process of speaking to Resilient Homes Program applicants and offering support.
Labor’s Planning Minister Paul Scully and Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib visited the region in recent days, proclaiming the government must do better.
Lismore Labor MP Janelle Saffin, whose home was flooded, also agreed communities need more input.
Her party now in power, Ms Saffin is pushing for housing support originally flagged – about 2000 buybacks, 2000 retrofits and 2000 house-raisings.
“I have taken this message to Premier Chris Minns, he has listened and is now backing me in for a much-needed reset,” she said.
“If we had adopted a decentralised way of implementing flood recovery by working closely with local councils and communities, the outcome on the ground today would have been much better.”
‘Gaslit us’
Lismore mum Indra Dhanusha has been refused a buyback.
The 48-year-old artist and community care worker said she felt almost as alone she did early last year, when she was clutching her two children to her chest, waiting to be scooped from her roof as flood waters lapped their waists in the night.
She escaped out a window with her children.
Now, her home has been deemed at “low risk” in future floods.
Ms Dhanusha said state mapping indicated her property would be eligible.
“But then, three or four days later I got a call to say not only was I not getting the buyback, I wasn't getting any help at all,” she said.
Ms Dhanusha said she believed 6000 people would be offered help.
“So that gave us all hope and then they gaslit us by saying they never said it,” she said.
Ms Dhanusha said she felt buybacks were handed out randomly.
“What they're saying and what the maps are showing are two completely different things … with no method to the madness,” she said.
“It seems to me the first tranche of funding has just been wasted on consulting by the NRRC, when it should have been the people flooded who were consulted,” she said.
‘How do we get back on our feet?’
Three people died in the area around Simon Lamont’s South Lismore home, but the 66-year-old disability support worker has been turned away from recovery funding.
He has been refused a buyback after waiting more than a year.
Mr Lamont has been pouring his life savings into repairing his home.
“They (NRRC) said that I would get an email explaining how they came to make that decision and what my options are, but I have never received an email – like everybody else,” he said.
Mr Lamont said he was “over it”, sick of being on tenterhooks and sceptical of more funding.
“Does that mean you’ve got to wait for another 18 months to find out you missed out on that too?” he said.
“How exactly is the town supposed to get back on its feet?”
Mr Lamont slammed authorities for “doing nothing” and said support was “randomised”.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
‘They’re so tight-lipped’
Graphic designer Julia Melvin, 63, feels frustrated as she stares at the mud-caked walls of her South Lismore home.
She’s living in limbo in a caravan in her backyard, with no answers from the government.
Ms Melvin said she was given false hope and refused aid while others in similar situations were given a helping hand.
She said the state has not been listening to survivors.
“I can't just wait for them any longer (for help) – wait for what? Even now, they’re not saying anything. They’re so tight-lipped,” she said.
“The government’s job isn‘t back-pedal and gaslight, say one thing and do another.
“The things that they’ve been doing are unfixable because they’ve given people no place to go other than down.”
The NRRC spokesperson said mapping resulted in households being “prioritised for a buyback offer based on the greatest risk to life for both residents and emergency service responders”.
“This new analysis has also shown there is a need for more buybacks across the Northern Rivers, which are costlier than house raisings or retrofits, compared to initial estimates,” they said.
“This has led to around 1100 homes being prioritised for buyback under the program, along with over 400 home raisings or retrofits.”
The spokesperson said applicants were being contacted with updates.
“The NRRC is working hard to speak with all households that have applied,” they said.
“The NRRC is committed to speaking directly with homeowners as quickly as possible and giving people the individual support they need.”
They said 364 buyback offers had been extended as of July 21, including 60 in South Lismore. 202 home buyback offers were accepted, with 26 settlements completed.
The spokesperson said the government was offering “a range of welfare services” for survivors “continuing to experience trauma”.
The NRRC was repeatedly asked how many residents have been denied a buyback.
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